Politics

Amy Klobuchar Distances Herself From Bernie: ‘I Am Not a Socialist, I Am a Democrat’

Font Size:

Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar distanced herself Tuesday from the declared socialism of fellow 2020 presidential contender Bernie Sanders.

WATCH:

“One of the results in our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that came out this Sunday is that Americans — a majority of Americans do not like the socialist label. Is that a problem for Bernie Sanders?” asked MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell during an interview with the Minnesota senator on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

“You know, you should talk to Bernie about that,” said Klobuchar. “He and I have worked together on a number of issues including these prescription drug issues that I just brought on. I will just speak for myself. I’m not a socialist, I’m a Democrat. I’m proud of that. And I worked both in the private sector and the public sector.”

Klobuchar did call for some “checks on the private sector.” (RELATED: Pence Frames 2020 As Referendum On Socialism)

“That’s why I brought up the antitrust laws earlier, Andrea,” she said. “That is an area where decades of conservative court decisions, inaction by Congress, more big companies, sophisticated companies that our government hasn’t been able to put any kind of a check on. That’s an area where, no, this isn’t about socialism, it’s Republicans. Teddy Roosevelt, the trust-buster, took this on early on. And it is time to bring this issue back again.”

A Sunday Wall Street Journal poll showed that only 18 percent of Americans view socialism positively, while 50 percent have a negative view. Capitalism, on the other hand, enjoyed 50 percent favor with respondents, with only 19 percent viewing it negatively.

Follow Scott on Twitter